Immigrationboards.com

Hello everyone!

Having been reading many posts in this discussion board, I have learnt a lot.
However I am still not sure about "exercising treat rights in UK" in our case.

I am a non-EU national, doing my MSc degree under my student visa, due to Nov 2011.

My spouse is an EU-national(swedish).
She is doing her PhD at her home country, however spending most of the time in UK doing her own research.
Only when she has teaching, she goes back to her country.

Hence she is employed by the university (in sweden) and getting salary every month.

Since we would like to stay and work in UK, we are preparing EEA2 residence card, not visa .

1) (A stupid question though), is this right visa for us to apply?

2) If yes, which category my spouse belong to?
We assume that she would be 'self-sufficient' category but how can we effectively show this?

3) We are planning to apply around mid August, I have 3 months left until my tier4 student visa. Would it be a problem?

Awating for your answers. Many thanks!

Stally

Any comment will be really helpful! thanks!!

richmond332 wrote:Hence she is employed by the university and getting salary every month(£2500/m before tax).

Quite obviously, she is a worker.

richmond332 wrote:Since we would like to stay and work in UK, we are preparing EEA2 visa.

It is called a Residence Card (not a visa) and that's what you should apply for.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucitizens/

richmond332 wrote:Any comment will be really helpful! thanks!!

No need to get impatient here. People do sleep you know. And, after all members here are unpaid volunteers who can choose to answer whenever they like.

Thank you so mucn 86ti!
I forgot to mention but she is not employed by university in UK but in Sweden. Does she still belong to worker? or self-sufficient?

Thanks again!

As she is 'spending most of the time in UK' as you say does she also pay tax and NI contributions in the UK or do any deductions of her salary go to Sweden?

Thank you 86ti!
No, she pays tax only for sweden, not UK. No NI contribution in the UK. She can proove her health insurance provided by her employer, university.
She receives her salary from her university in sweden to her swedish account. She has a bank account in UK but it is only for her living cost in UK so transfers from swedish account to that British account time to time.

She may be self-sufficient but if she is in the UK more than the required six months per year why does she not pay her tax in the UK? If I am not wrong then the UK considers one as tax-resident when present for more than 90 days (may be also six months).

richmond332 wrote:My spouse is an EU-national(swedish).
She is doing her PhD at her home country, however spending most of the time in UK doing her own research.
Only when she has teaching, she goes back to her country.

If she were working here, including part time at McDonalds, then you could definitely get a Residence Card.

Or if she is living here and is self sufficient, which she likely is.

Or if she is a cross border worker. For this to be true she would have to be in the UK (generally) at least once per week. So if she lived in the UK and flew to Sweden for Tuesday and Wednesday for teaching, and then flew back home that would count.

Not sure if there is a way to structure if she takes an extended absence from the UK for teaching (e.g. 3 months each fall).

Maybe you can describe in more detail what she does and how she does it.

Hello! Thanks for your comments! @86ti; oh yes,we might have to look up the tax issue. @ directive; my wife does not do any paid work for the UK employer (even part time) here in UK. She is PhD student in Sweden but it is like a researcher job so she gets paid every month. She also teaches undergraduate level students and supervise them. Other than that she stays with me here in UK and does her own research work.

And also what could we do if we can't get the residence card before my tier4 student visa expires?

How long is she in Sweden for when she goes? Always less than a week? If so see my comments about cross-border worker...

If she got a job supervising undergraduates or teaching a class or doing similar academic work part time in the UK, that would be enough. For instance, if she did that every monday...

Usually 2,3 weeks in Sweden and 3,4weeks in UK but irregularly. (from sep, 2010)
I'm afraid that she is not employed by UK universities.

richmond332 wrote:I'm afraid that she is not employed by UK universities.

I know that. I am asking if she is employable...

She could also work at a local book shop. That also counts as exercising her treaty rights...

With only brief periods of time in the UK this doesn't seem to be very realistic. It may also be in conflict with her research grant. After all she gets the money to concentrate on her studies. And cross-border worker? Quite a long shot.

richmond332 wrote:My spouse is an EU-national(swedish).
She is doing her PhD at her home country, however spending most of the time in UK doing her own research.
Only when she has teaching, she goes back to her country.

But she is not in the UK only briefly. She is here most of the time...

86ti wrote:With only brief periods of time in the UK this doesn't seem to be very realistic. It may also be in conflict with her research grant. After all she gets the money to concentrate on her studies. And cross-border worker? Quite a long shot.

I doubt the research grant prohibits working locally. It is not unusual for students to do a little outside work. And even if it does, that is a contract issue between her and her grant provider, and does not interfere with with her legal rights to establish herself as a (part-time) worker in the UK in order to facilitate her husband's residence...


And finally a comment on cross border: long distance cross border commuting is more common than you might think. Go to Gatwick/Heathrow/Stanstead and you will see the same people waiting every week for the 5pm Friday flight back to their home. And then they are back on the reverse flight at 6am on Monday morning.

I used to do it myself regularly from Germany to London. There were maybe 15 regulars that I recognized on the Monday morning flight. The end of week return travel was more diverse, but you would definitely bump into the same people even then.

I even heard a story recently of somebody teaching at a Greek University and simultaneously teaching at a US university and flying back and forth to (apparently successfully) satisfy the requirements of both jobs.

You get used to the flying and how to make it go smoothly. You figure out how to avoid the lines at the UK border. You know exactly when the trains leave into your destination. You know which washrooms are nice and clean. You know the best places to get food in the airport. You painfully figure out where to wait when there is extensive delay to your flight.

If I had one Wednesday morning class to teach in Sweden, I might fly there Tuesday afternoon, teach the class and fly back Wednesday night...

Teaching is seasonal and from the description of the OP it is obviously not regular lectures. You cannot construct a cross-border worker from the current situation. The salary may not permit frequent travel (I very much doubt the Swedish university would pay for weekly returns if at all). So it would be obviously cheaper to simply buy a CSI.

Doctoral students with a decent income do typically not do odd jobs because they do no have to and better spend their time doing their research. We do not know if the nature of the OP's research would allow that in practice. Working on and off may gain very little. It is not necessary and their problem may be easier solved by going for self-sufficiency.

I think it may be more realistic to prove as a self-sufficient person. As 86ti, doctoral students seems so busy for just doing their own work... even though they do have flexible time for a part time job and some people really do if their grant is small.

In terms of CSI, does it have to cover both me and my spouse or just for herself would be enough?

richmond332 wrote:In terms of CSI, does it have to cover both me and my spouse or just for herself would be enough?

Unfortunately, for both of you. You can have a look through the ECIS for some guidance but I believe there is not much information there. Check the forum for more info.

richmond332 wrote:I think it may be more realistic to prove as a self-sufficient person. As 86ti, doctoral students seems so busy for just doing their own work... even though they do have flexible time for a part time job and some people really do if their grant is small.

In terms of CSI, does it have to cover both me and my spouse or just for herself would be enough?

Yes mate she should be the MAIN person on insurance cover and it should include you.

Can you please explain what does it exactly mean "comprehensive"?
I am not sure what is the appropriate level of the cost per month for the "Comprehensive sickness insurance", however I was quoted like around £80 per month(for two of us). Is this reasonable???

Does the "comprehensive" insurance has to cover such as
Consultant/specialist fees, Diagnostic tests, Physiotherapy/other therapies, Psychiatric treatment??